Honoria Lyddiard is a character appearing in the episode Written in Blood of the ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders. She's an aging socialite tracing her family tree, treating her sister-in-law Amy Lyddiard like less of a person than she is because Honoria holds her accountable for the early death of Amy's late husband and Honoria's brother, Ralph Lyddiard.
In the process of tracing her roots, she found out in the newspaper that Ralph personally knew Gerald Hadleigh and proceeded to spy on him one night. What she saw was him standing fully in women's clothes and a wig, his transvestitism kept a secret for years. When he saw her, livid over Honoria snooping around, Gerald furiously told her the truth about him and Ralph being lovers years ago, before screaming at her to leave his home. This also confirmed another fact about Ralph: he died of a strain of AIDS both men shared from their relationship.
Honoria found this horrifically shameful beyond her comprehension, thus proceeding to beat Gerald to death with a candlestick out of mania and revulsion, leaving his face barely recognizable. Hoping to cover up Ralph's sexuality as well, she stripped Gerald of his clothes, emptied out his wardrobe, and hid all the contents in her mansion, waiting for the proper moment to dispose of them all.
Amy found them herself in a suitcase in the mansion's closet. Due to being fed up with Amy and trying to cover her guilt, Honoria stepped out with a long knife and tried to stab Amy. Amy fought as long as she could, and when Honoria cornered her by a window, Amy dodged one last lunge, causing Honoria to break through the glass and plummet out. She died instantly on the asphalt driveway below her, around the same moment Amy realized Honoria was waiting for her to die of AIDS as well.
Victims[]
- Gerald Hadleigh - Bludgeoned with a candlestick, stripped and removed his dresses from his closet.
- Amy Lyddiard - Chased around the family mansion and attempted to stab to death with a kitchen knife, but Honoria fell out a window and died when Amy dodged.